Sense and sensibility Character Analysis
Jane Austen in her masterpiece “sense and sensibility” probes the subject of excessive sensibility. As the novel progresses it goes on to portray as sense being a strong trait and sensibility a weakness. Spanning over three volumes it talks about Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters; Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. However, the plot mainly revolves around Elinor and Marianne and their love story. They have hopes and are very much in love but both of them get spurned in love for the first time. After heartbreaks and travels, they finally find their true love albeit not exactly what they had expected but they do settle down.
Like all books, the characters are drawn out well to aid the plot. Let us do a character analysis for sense and sensibility:
Elinor Dashwood
She represents the “sense” in this novel. She is nineteen years old and is her mother’s confidante. She influences her mother and helps her to make prudent decisions. A case in point being when Mrs. Dashwood wants to leave Norland Park; Elinor stops her from making hasty decisions and asks Marianne to look at things in a calmer and sensible scenario.
Elinor is different from Marianne in tackling her love life. She is attracted to Edward and when she comes to know about Edward and Lucy’s secret engagement she keeps her self-composure. She is devoted to Marianne as well and agrees to go to London to find Willoughby there and nurse Marianne back to health when she falls ill.
However, at the end, she gets married to Edward and her love and devotion are rewarded.
Marianne Dashwood
Marianne represented the oversensitive heroines of the late eighteenth century novels. All of her emotions were over the top be it her sorrows or her joys. She feels amazed that Elinor likes Edward who is quite plain